The best Samsung Galaxy S8 deals in the Boxing Day and January sales

If price has been the one thing holding you back from getting a new Samsung Galaxy S8 in 2017, maybe you’ll find a deal in the January sales that better suits your budget.

It’s a good time to look for deals on the S8 as it’s still Samsung’s flagship smartphone but it has been long enough since its launch for providers to start dropping prices and offering freebies, even if just for a limited time.

We know it’s still December, heck it’s not even Christmas yet, but the January sales really do start earlier and earlier each year. The upshot is we can already look at what some providers will be offering in the New Year as those deals are already out there now.

Free Gear Fit 2 or TellyTablet with the Samsung Galaxy S8

We’ll kick off with Virgin Mobile, which is offering either a free Gear Fit 2 or TellyTablet with the Samsung Galaxy S8.

One of the standout offers of Virgin Mobile’s entire January sale is the Samsung Galaxy S8 with free Gear Fit 2 – an activity tracker and heart rate monitor – as prices start at £26 a month. Admittedly this only gives you a modest allowance – 1.2GB of data and 300 minutes alongside the standard unlimited texts – but Virgin’s other plans are more generous and still come in pretty cheap.

For example, you can get a massive 40GB of data with unlimited texts and 5,000 minutes for £35 a month as long as you’re happy to commit to a 36-month contract.

If you’d rather stick to a more familiar 24-month contract, the 40GB plan will cost you £47.50 a month, still cheaper than most providers and especially when you consider that Virgin doesn’t charge upfront fees for its phones.

To get a TellyTablet with your Samsung Galaxy S8 it will cost you a little bit more, £39 a month over 36 months for the 40GB plan or £53.50 a month over 24 months.

Virgin describes the TellyTablet as a personal smart TV. It has a 14-inch HD screen and integrated stand so you can stand it up anywhere in the house and watch up to 110 live channels, box sets and TV on demand.

Virgin Media says its TellyTablet is worth £249

Savings of £230 on the Samsung Galaxy S8 with O2

O2 is offering savings of £230 on the Samsung Galaxy S8 over the course of a 24-month contract. This deal runs right the way through until 7 February but if you order by 3 January you’ll also get a free cinema discount pass, which will knock up to 40% off the price of going to the pictures for two years.

If you’re an existing O2 customer upgrading to the Galaxy S8 and you go for a 10GB tariff or higher, you’ll also benefit from an additional 10GB of data every month for the length of the contract.

O2’s recommended tariff is £56 a month and £19.99 upfront. It offers 20GB of data and unlimited calls and texts, as well as the option to upgrade your phone after 12 months.

The biggest amount of data on offer in this deal is 50GB, which will set you back £63 a month plus £19.99 upfront, or £60 a month and £89.99 upfront.

Save up to £240 on the Samsung Galaxy S8 with Three

Three is also promising big savings on the Samsung Galaxy S8 during its January sale – up to £240, in fact. Three refers to a winter sale rather than a January sale, which makes more sense really as it’s started in December, and doesn’t say when it’s going to end.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 deals included in the sale are Three’s biggest in terms of data. You can get an enormous 100GB of data for £53 a month and £79 upfront or – for just an extra quid by the way – unlimited data for £54 a month and the same upfront fee of £79.

The ridiculous thing about these deals is they include Go Binge, a perk which lets you stream Netflix, TV Player, Apple Music, Deezer and SoundCloud without eating into your data allowance. Honestly, you’re probably going to struggle to use 100GB as it is and how Go Binge helps when you have unlimited data anyway, we have no idea.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 in Arctic Silver only on EE

EE is the only UK retailer to stock the Samsung Galaxy S8 in Arctic Silver

EE is the only place you can get the Samsung Galaxy S8 in Arctic Silver, as opposed to the standard colour choices Midnight Black and Orchid Grey.

Now this isn’t strictly a January sale or Christmas deal, but if you go for EE’s best-selling plan you’ll get the Samsung Galaxy S8 with 3GB of data for £47.99 a month plus £9.99 upfront.

You’ll also get access to the BT Sport app for the full length of the 24-month contract, so you can watch Champions League and Premier League football, Ashes cricket and MotoGP on your phone. And six free months of Apple Music, as well as the data with which to stream it.

Up to £95 cashback with BT

BT is offering up to £95 cashback with the Samsung Galaxy S8 right now. To get the full amount you'll have to go for the top tariff – 15GB of data for £57 a month plus £10 upfront.

If you think 6GB of data will be enough to get you through each month, you can get £60 cashback and save on the monthly cost for the first six months of the contract.

BT's 6GB deal is is currently £28.50 a month for the first six months, then £52 a month for the remaining 18 months. You'll also have to pay £20 upfront.